I fell for a dark stranger, a painfully beautiful one. With his impressive physique and exotic accent, I couldn't keep him out of my dreams. But when those dreams turned to nightmares I started looking for answers. I'd asked the questions before, but I'd always been kept in the dark. Who Am I? Why Am I Different?

I demand the truth, I have to know what my part in this war is before it's too late... And why the vision of this dark stranger captivates me...

EXCERPT

It was a dream. It was all just a dream. A very screwed up, emotionally damaging, horrible dream. Ava’s breath caught in her throat. Her dark hair hung in waves below her shoulders. Somehow she had flung herself up into a sitting position. Her breathing was labored as if she had really just been running for her life. She could feel the hysteria bubbling from her gut. The dream had been vivid. She looked down at her knee, remembering that she had fallen in the damn nightmare, and saw that it was bruised, but she dismissed the injury. She worked at a bar, and she always had unexplainable cuts and bruises.Slowly, she climbed out of the queen-size bed she loved. It was warm, and a pillow top, but no matter the comfort level it could not keep her nightmares at bay. They were getting to be more and more frequent. Ava opened the nightstand beside her bed, took out the leather bound journal and matching pen then started towards the kitchen. She needed tea.When she turned the light on, the soft hum in the background drew her attention. She hated dead silence. Silence reminded her of the nightmares. She filled the antique kettle her uncle valued. He had told her many stories over tea. He loved to talk about her mother, his youngest sister. She was the most vibrant of them all. She had big plans in life, but had died much too young. That is why Ava intended on living her mother’s dreams for her, but her uncle did not think it was the best idea and constantly tried to dissuade her from the idea. She began to write in her journal. Her pen flew over the paper as she wrote out every detail of her nightmare. She wanted to remember this one along with many others. It seemed as if they were happening frequently.

When I was released from Hell it was conditional. My daughter, Ava, sold herself to earn my freedom from the shackles that contained me for so long. Before my wrists could even heal I was summoned by the elders of the lust demon faction and ordered to find a demon who was going to prove vital in the pending demon war. I was to do whatever was necessary to get the information she had. Did I have the strength to torture and kill the demon if necessary after my own imprisonment? The question raged in my mind until I saw the demon…

EXCERPT

Avaraz was awakened by a playful blow to his stomach and laugh.

“Get up, we need to get you in shape.” Caine was too eager to get Avaraz back into training.

“What about sleep?”

“You like to sleep as much as Ava, we need to train. Your mark has been announced.”

“Call it an inherited trait for her.” Avaraz rolled over and away from the crimson-eyed demon annoying him.“Let’s go. “ Caine put hands on two spots on the bed and used his upper body strength to flip the mattress and send Avaraz to the floor.

“I swear you act like a ten year old at his first sleep-over Caine. Will you ever grow up?”

“Come, now.”

Caine walked out of the room. Avaraz was half tempted to roll back over and pull blankets over his head, but Caine would return soon and if he wasn’t up there would be some sort of juvenile shenanigans. He regretted asking his daughter’s mate to help him train for the mission. He was awake much too early.

Avaraz’s eyes popped open so his imagination wouldn’t conjure an image of his closest friend and daughter having sex. That would be quite disturbing. He shuddered at even having a possibility of seeing it more than what he saw already. Avaraz got up off the floor and pulled on a pair of shorts that rested low on his hips. He was skinnier than he was before his time on the wall, it would take time for him to rebuild to where he once was.

His hands reached for a plain white tank top, he exited his room to find Caine eating something in the kitchen. Avaraz swore that demon could eat them out of house and home. Caine always had something in his mouth.

“Thank you for the lovely wakeup call.” Avaraz’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“My pleasure.” Caine spoke with his mouth full. “Where are we going for training?”

“Same place I took Ava. It’s out of the way and no one goes there.” Avaraz looked into Caine’s mind and found the location he had in mind and nodded. “I will follow you."

Caine stood and shimmered out of the penthouse, Avaraz took a breath and followed behind. He arrived at the warehouse seconds later and Caine was already inside. He could hear the other demon fooling around with mats and barbells for training. Avaraz entered slowly, he still longed for the tender, warm embrace of his bed.

The final mat was finally dropped into place. Caine turned toward Avaraz.

“What do you want to start with? Physical or mental?” Caine asked.

“Mental.” Avaraz answered swiftly. “Offensive or defensive?”

“I’ll start with defense.”

“I won’t take it easy on you, my friend.” “I hope you won’t.” “I’ll beam an image of your daughter and I having sex into your mind. You better keep your shield up or it’ll be all you see, how she gets the thickness delivered every night.” Caine chuckled.

“Sadist. Before you ask, your ass looks fat when you’re nude.” Avaraz had already seen more than he would ever want to see.

“Get to work.”

Caine immediately set in with his attempts to penetrate the shields that Avaraz had in place. The first image came through and almost knocked Avaraz down, his daughter on her knees in front of Caine. No. Avaraz pushed Caine out with a powerful yell.

“Do better.” Caine demanded.

Again the shields were prodded in his mind. It was an internal battle. Neither male moved, but sweat blossomed on their skin, both exerting extreme force to win the battle of wills. Suddenly Caine tried to break one of the shields Avaraz was building quickly His strength and ability were returning to him surprisingly fast. Perhaps the elders had a hand in it he thought.

“Good, my friend.” Caine’s voice echoed.

“What else do you have?” He taunted.

AUTHOR BIO

Lauren Peyton is a Tacoma native who was able to grow up in the beautiful Puget Sound. She loves to write. Lauren's favorite genres include romance, thrillers, suspense, and dark fantasy. She is currently continuing to work on her follow up projects and new series that are promised to tease and hook you from start to finish.

In the last six months, Ashley’s life has been one disappointment after another. She walked in on her boyfriend with another woman, leaving her needing a new place to live and a mountain of debt. As if that wasn’t enough, her ex convinces her that his infidelity is her fault for being unadventurous in bed.

Deep down Ashley has always had the desire to be wild but has been held back by her own insecurities. She’s desperate to break free, but she's fearful of how people will judge her if they know her inner desires. She wants nothing more than to lose herself in sex that pushes her to the limit, but she hasn’t found anyone she trusts enough to take her there until she meets Tanner.

Tanner doesn’t trust anyone outside of his inner circle easily. The infamous, media proclaimed playboy, quarterback is tired of people using him for money, connections and to get their fifteen minutes of fame. Determined to protect his image and himself, he makes sure to keep most people at arm’s length until Ashley is thrown into his life. He’s inexplicably drawn to her, and she needs his help in more than ways than one. But to help her, he’ll need to let her in.

There’s an immediate attraction and connection that neither can deny, but can both of them get past their inhibitions and find what they are looking for in each other or will everything backfire in their faces?

My bad luck first started six months ago, when I discovered my boyfriend, Jason, had been cheating on me. I suppose if you asked my mother though, she’d say my bad luck had started two and half years ago, when I started dating Jason. My parents never liked him."He just rubs me the wrong way, Ashley," my mother had always said. "He's not the guy for you." She’d claimed that it wasn't one thing in particular but that something about Jason as a whole just didn’t sit right with her. Either way, she was right. I guess mother's intuition really is accurate… But I’ve never told her the real reasons we broke up or how much debt he put me in before we did. Let’s just say I don’t want to see the look on her face if she found out the truth about Jason. She’d say that since she’d been right about my choice in him, maybe I should consider another career before it turned out she was right about that as well.Jason and I had shared an apartment in Jersey City. That is until I’d found him having an afternoon romp in our sheets with someone who certainly wasn’t me one Thursday when he should have been working, and I kicked him out.I’d come home early that day to grab a few outfit choices to bring with me to my best friend Quinn's. We were heading to the city that night so I could check out a hit club for the weekend edition of the paper. I’d known that something was off the minute I walked through the door. A pair of women's shoes lay on the living room floor. They were not mine. I didn’t own electric blue stilettoes.Then I heard them.

Kimberly is a stay at mom of four crazy beautiful children. She lives in New Jersey with her husband of ten years and enjoys every minute of her never dull life. She loves a good book that is impossible to put down and you will mostly likely find her reading in her downtime, unless of course, there is a football game on.

What would you do if everything in your life felt wrong, that you had no control over your own fate, like you had married the wrong man? What if, when tragedy strikes, you find out you did.

Mary Alice married Alex Williams of her own free will. Or did she? Trapped, like the white heron she was given as a wedding gift, she finds herself living a lie, while the truth watches silently from the shadows.

She has no idea that a mysterious event has caused her to forget the one man she'd promised to love and cherish forever.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of In The Shadow of The Heron until March 20, 2015 will benefit the Amber Coplin Memorial Donation Drive:

Amber Coplin Memorial Donation Drive

Amber Lynn Coplin was brutally murdered by her boyfriend in Port Orchard, Washington in November. Photos were then callously posted on the internet. She was a devoted mother of FIVE young boys who will now spend this Christmas season without their mother. With permission from the boys’ father, Paul, I am donating a percentage of my book sales through March 20, 2015 to a fund to help ensure that they have all of their physical needs met.

Individual donations can be made through GoFundMe at http://www.gofundme.com/gtq2rc. This is the ONLY fund that I am aware of that directly benefits the five boys. Please join me in supporting the surviving victims of this horrible tragedy.

Carrie-Anne O’Driscoll is a peace officer in the state of Texas as well as a volunteer crisis advocate, domestic violence/sexual assault survivor and a nationally recognized public speaker on both subjects.

Previously, she has published two nonfiction books. The Worm Fiasco- A True Portrayal of Domestic Violence is the true story of how she survived attempted murder when she was six weeks pregnant with her oldest son. Last Kiss- The Life and Death of Ka’Tara Gallagher is the true story of the murder of her 20 month old niece in 1999 due to child abuse.

She currently resides in Texas with her husband of ten years, Jim, and her two Tasmanian “tween” sons, Chandler and Liam.

David and Emma Thomas have reached the end of the road. Only one thing is preventing them from parting ways: a painting they bought on honeymoon. Priceless to both of them, the only solution seems to be to find the second of the elusive Masters' seascapes and each carry away a piece of the past.

They had talked about David staying in the house - spare room, of course - until he could find something more permanent but in the end he couldn't bear it. The things you stopped noticing after fifteen years - sometimes, conversely, the very things that had helped you fall in love in the first place - were suddenly amplified. The way she always hummed when she made coffee in the morning, whatever her mood. The scent of her moisturiser. The way she chewed her pencil end, even though she admitted it was a habit that drove her crazy when others did it.You don't know what you've got until it's gone…Or almost gone. Being reminded every day of what he was about to lose would have been too much to bear. Not that he would call the current circumstances particularly bearable.Instead, he had rented a small studio flat a ten minute walk away. He could easily have afforded something bigger and he certainly could have afforded something less sparsely furnished but he didn't want a new home right now. He just wanted somewhere to retreat and lick his wounds.Privately he admitted to himself that the feeling of temporariness helped perpetuate the charade: perhaps it wasn't all quite over. He knew he was kidding himself. He was not the kind of man to give up without a fight and he believed he had fought hard for Emma. She just didn't want him any more.As he reached the building and entered the lobby, he wondered if he should just let her go now. The painting? She could have it. Who needed a reminder of all the things they'd never have again? She had transformed his life over the last fifteen years. A canvas, however stunning, was a poor substitute.In his 'kitchenette' - one counter, a sink and a toaster and kettle - he poured a glass of whisky, took a mouthful and then shook his head and emptied the rest of the glass down the sink. He was drinking too much. It wasn't habitual but it could easily become so. Whisky - even damn good whisky - was even less of a substitute for Emma than a Masters' seascape.He would call her in the morning, he decided. She could have the painting. Forget the auction. Forget the road trip.If you love someone set them free…She wouldn't come back to him, he suddenly knew that. And perhaps it would indeed mean she never had been his, but oddly he was cheered by this thought. Nobody could own someone as free as Emma. She was born to soar. He had always believed they could soar together and the realisation that he had been wrong crushed his heart in a vice of pain. She had given him so much in the last fifteen years, made so many sacrifices. This would be his final opportunity to give Emma something she really wanted: her freedom. After everything he had put her through, it would be the very least he could offer.

Donna is a longtime book lover and sometime book reviewer and has devoured books from an early age. She writes short (or long) stories as and when inspiration hits and is married to fantasy author David M. Brown (Fezariu's Epiphany, A World Apart). She was also co-contributor to David's book, Man vs Cat, a humorous look at life with six rambunctious rescue cats.

Donna has lived in many different areas of the UK over the last 30-something years but has remained in Yorkshire for the past decade. She ardently disputes the misnomer that 'It's grim up north'. You can find Donna on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Goodreads, or visit her and her husband's shared blog: B-Lines and Felines.